Thrice Loved
by artemis-nz
Summary: Conrad pledged to him his arm, his heart, and his life. Conrad/Yuuri.
1. Chapter 1

**Thrice Loved  
Part I of III: His Arm**

Yuuri was drunk.

It wasn't actually his fault, no matter what Wolfram claimed afterwards. In fact if anyone was to blame it was the state visitor, having so much wine. It was hardly Yuuri's fault that he had to keep up out of politeness.

"It is only common courtesy", insisted Gunter before the meal. "As his host, it is important to show your good will, and where he comes from, as well as in many other places over the world, it it offensive to refuse to drink if he does not."

There seemed a great many things that were offensive at large dinner parties. He had to learn that bowing too shallowly was disrespectful and that to bow too low was unbecoming. He had to learn that if the host was seated next to him and did not eat a certain dish, then he was not to partake of that dish either. He had to learn to speak quietly, but with enough force to show his rank appropriately. He had to learn the correct way to hold the knife and fork with separate company.

Most of all, he really needed lessons on how to hold his drink. He could practically hear Gunter's voice in his head, telling him to be sure to drink the same amounts as his host, who was clearly a far more seasoned drinker than the young king. Gunter was seated at the other end of the table, however, and the table was crowded and noisy. Needless to say, it did not help with Yuuri's disorientation.

The wine was red and rich, smooth and of good quality. Perhaps too good, since his host seemed to be enjoying it so much. Yuuri's head felt fuzzy, and he was aware that the noise would soon result in a headache. He wanted only to curl up and sleep, but to excuse himself from the table at such a time would have been most offensive. It was still only the third course. No, Yuuri had no fondness for elaborate state dinners.

He smiled and nodded politely at his guest's speech. Elsewhere down the long polished wooden table, Gunter and Gwendal sat opposite two other guests, talking animatedly. Wolfram was a few seats along, and looked to be holding his wine admirably. Conrad was among those at the very end, and there were numerous guests in between. Yuuri wished he could have sat next to Conrad, but it seemed that seating arrangements were also considered to be of significance for such occasions.

Now his eyesight appeared to have gone slightly blurred, and his face felt flushed. It was too warm, but the long cloak had to stay on. He wanted to relax, he wanted to get some fresh air, and he craved water. His mouth felt dry and he wondered, not without some desperation, how much longer he would have to wait and how much more wine he would have to ingest.

His host took another gulp, and Yuuri stifled the urge to groan. He shifted his weight and then wished he hadn't moved, his hands clenching the table's under rim for balance.

"Your Majesty?"

Conrad bowed at his side. When had he got there?

"Please excuse the interruption, Sire, but there was a slight problem with the next course... and if you recall, you requested I inform you immediately if there was anything which might upset the pleasure of your guests..."

"Uh... yes, that's right."

Conrad smiled at Yuuri's host, who raised an eyebrow and looked ready to protest. "I do hope you'll excuse his Majesty for a moment - he has only your best interests at heart, to see to this small matter personally."

"Then by all means, of course", nodded the guest, unable to argue such a point. "Please, do see to your troubles."

Conrad bowed and Yuuri got up, remembering to incline his head also before leading the way out of the room. Conrad's arm was pressed discreetly to Yuuri's back, making sure he did not trip.

"Ahh..." Yuuri inhaled the fresh air gratefully, the cold of the night helping him to refresh him. It felt delightful on his face, and his tense shoulders relaxed a little. "I thought I wouldn't make it there for a second. Thanks for saving me."

"My pleasure, Your Majesty. You did look like you needed it."

"Its _Yuuri_. In there maybe its important you call me 'Your Majesty', but I've had enough formality for one night."

"My apologies, then. But are you alright?"

"Yeah... did I look that bad?"

"I think you were doing very well", said Conrad tactfully. "And your host will not be able to find fault with your manners. However, I was watching you from the other end of the table..."

Yuuri leaned over the balcony and breathed deeply, the stone cool under his fingertips.

"I don't know how much more I can take. I'm not used to so much wine!"

"Not to worry, Yuuri. I've arranged it with the head maid - you'll do fine. But we must be getting back - I'm sure I wouldn't want to deprive your host from your company any longer that necessary." Yuuri was certain that underneath that formal mask he always wore, Conrad was grinning.

"Alright... guess I'll have to trust you."

Yuuri was escorted back to the table, and Conrad bowed at his chair and left him.

"Did you sort out what the trouble was, Your Majesty?", enquired his host.

"Oh... yes, I did, thank you. Maids, you know... so hard to organize."

"Yes, woman!" the host laughed, and nodded at the servant behind him to refill his goblet. Yuuri inwardly sighed but also nodded for his to be refilled by another servant. He resignedly took a sip, and then suppressed a grin of his own. It looked like wine, but it was only sweet grapefruit juice.

Nearly two hours later the dinner was over. Yuuri stretched and then swayed, to be steadied again by Conrad.

"Glad its over, Your- Yuuri?"

"Yes! I don't know what I would have done without you..."

Still, he had drunk enough wine to need Conrad's steady arm again to walk straight to his room, with Wolfram muttering something about wimps not being able to hold their drinks behind him.

Yuuri was sincerely glad the next state dinner wasn't for another two weeks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thrice Loved  
Part II of III: His Heart**

The earth was stained red.

So were Yuuri's hands, horribly, condemning. The Maou looked down at them, eyes wide. No, not the Maou. Only Yuuri. The Maou had done this, but Yuuri had not, Yuuri was innocent.

Or at least, he had been.

The battle had been swift, furious, and explosive. Over what, nobody could really be sure. Some, those that were stil able to speak, muttered that it was enemy magic, an enemy far more powerful than either Demon or Human had imagined. And indeed, to see the carnage that was left when the dust had settled and the war cries had ceased, one could not blame them for believing that it was some higher power responsible for such...

Yuuri gave a gasp, and Conrad at last moved. They had been shocked into standstill - even Gwendal's voice had not been raised to yell out brisk orders. This time, there seemed nothing left to say. The others had also been miraculously unharmed, although they had all suffered artificial bruises, shallow cuts.

But Yuuri saw none of this. He saw only that there were bodies in front of him, and also behind him. Bodies. Dead people. He had killed them. Or rather, they had all killed each other. And he, angered so much as to be completely out of control, was responsible for finally ending it.

"Your Majesty-"

Conrad knelt down. His clothes, too, were darkened. They were alive - the Demon Tribe had prevailed - but nobody had won. In the face of such a thing, there could be no winning side.

Yuuri didn't, or couldn't, reply. His eyes didn't move from their gaze toward the ground. He could look nobody in the face, least of all Conrad.

"Your Majesty, there was nothing you could do!"

Yuuri gave no sign that he had even heard.

"There was nothing you could have done. You stopped the fighting-"

"I stopped the fighting by killing more people."

His voice was so low that Conrad almost didn't catch the words that were spoken in a tone he had never thought to hear come from Yuuri's mouth.

"No, that's not so. They would have kept fighting, they only would have killed each other. They wouldn't have stopped until everyone was dead. Everyone - Humans, Demons... you. We would all be dead. You saved them. There are people still alive here because of what you did."

"I killed them, Conrad. I didn't think... I only acted. I killed them!"

He finally looked up, desperate. His eyes were dry; there was no strength left for tears.

"Your Majesty-"

"_Don't call me that!_" Yuuri lashed out, dashing Conrad's hand away from where it was resting on his shoulder. "I'm not the King! A King protects his people. He's not supposed to slaughter them!"

His voice was raised, and Conrad knew that if he kept this up, Yuuri's energy would finally run out. It was only his despair now that kept him going. He raised his hands and looked at them, voice filled with horror.

"Oh God... what have I done?"

He shivered, in spite of the heat that the fire had given off. The land was scorched, and although the sudden torrent of rain that Yuuri had no doubt been responsible had successfully put out the fire, the stench of smoke still remained. Yuuri breathed heavily and choked, the wetness now in his eyes only from the tight pain in his chest. His throat seemed to be closed up, and he couldn't speak. Neither did he want to.

The others stood by helplessly, and it was Wolfram who looked away first, nudging his older brother into action. Gwendal gave quiet orders and, tiredly, people began to move, picking their way through bodies to find any injured. The white uniforms of Gisela and her group went to and fro, helping out whoever they could. In the face of such destruction, it didn't matter who was hurt - everyone, Demon and Human alike, would receive any help they needed. For once, there was no arguing. Death was a common enemy.

Conrad still knelt as the rest of the group moved tactfully away. He leaned forward, gathering the exhausted Yuuri in his arms. The King did not have the will to push him away again, but his body shuddered when Conrad touched him, the shame flooding through him. He hadn't only failed as a King, but as a human. He didn't kill. He had made that promise. He was to treat lives as sacred, do his best to protect... he wanted the ground to open up from underneath his feet and swallow him so that he wouldn't have to look upon what he had done.

"Yuuri... come, let's get away from here for a while." Conrad spoke as if to an injured animal, his voice kept deliberately soft. In spite of himself, Yuuri found himself responding to that voice, non-accusing and quiet.

"No... I have to help... those people, I can't..."

"You can, and you must. Please, Yuuri. You can't save everyone, you have to let Gwendal and the others take care of this. You have to let your body rest a while."

Conrad was calm but insistent.

"Yuuri? Yuuri, look at me." He spoke firmly, making Yuuri look him in the eye.

"Conrad...!"

Yuuri broke at last, and Conrad pulled Yuuri toward his chest to smother the screams. At that moment, he would have given his heart if it meant it would rid Yuuri of the pain.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thrice Loved  
Part III of III: His Life**

Conrad has nightmares sometimes.

He used to have them, even before this. Only they were about Julia back then, and some were so violent as to drive him to stay up, simply because he couldn't bear to go to sleep and see her face again, looking at him like that. His fault.

Then the nightmares disappeared, and he began to mend. Little by little, his life fit back together, a puzzle being slotted gently into place. He learned that a broken heart could be mended again after all, and that some things could be all the stronger for being once broken.

Only when either he or Yuuri got too close (it could have been either of them, and he knew he shouldn't have encouraged it-) the nightmares came back. They weren't like the ones before. The face of a woman was replaced with the face of someone else. And that person didn't look at him accusingly as a woman once did. This person didn't look at him at all, because his eyes were closed and he wasn't moving and he wasn't breathing and he wasn't-

And then Conrad would wake up, breathing heavily and sweating and forced to pace the room until his heart rate had slowed sufficiently to relax again as much as was possible after such a dream. Gwendal knew about these nightmares, finding out by accident one night after he passed the room and heard Conrad cry out. Gwendal tactfully said nothing the next morning, and gave Conrad some much needed space the next day. He wasn't worried, mind you - but it was none of his business. He said not a thing to anyone of what he had heard Conrad call out in his sleep.

The nightmares didn't occur very often. Only a few times, like just after Yuuri had been captured by a certain Uncle, or just before Yuuri had decided to search for the remaining Boxes. The nightmares were in full flood when Conrad had not been by Yuuri's side, forced to be seen as a traitor. Even then, Yuuri's eyes showed only sadness, and never anger or bitterness. If they had, Conrad didn't know what he would have done. As it was, the nightmares had gotten so furious at that point that he had forced himself to stay awake for days on end in an attempt to rid himself of them. The weeks following after, when Yuuri had gone back to Earth, were used by Conrad to recuperate fully. The nightmares thankfully vanished during that time, and when Yuuri came back Conrad was able to greet him with a smile.

Conrad remembers vividly the first time he met Yuuri properly. At that time, he had pledged to him his life. Yuuri had protested that he didn't want Conrad's life, but Conrad knows that his life was Yuuri's nonetheless. Already is, in fact. Conrad would of course sacrifice his life for Yuuri if it meant saving Yuuri's own - he would do it in a heartbeat, and with no regrets. But that isn't the plan, and no matter what it sounded like at the time even to his own ears, Conrad plans to serve his King in life, not death. His life is indeed given to the young Maou, but it is through Conrad living that will benefit Yuuri the most.

Joask had once brought up that subject, had said something to the effect of Conrad being a babysitter to His Majesty for the rest of his life. He had meant it as an insult at the time, but Conrad took it seriously. Yes, that was exactly what he intended to do. Not that Yuuri needed a babysitter. A friend, though - if that was what Yuuri wanted, then that was what Conrad would be. And the King, in insisting that Conrad call him by his first name, made it plain that he welcomed a friend. It made it hard sometimes, because it was not always appropriate in the eyes of some that the King be so informal, nor that his subjects would be so informal in return. Not only that, it also made it hard for Conrad when he could not be by the King's side. For all that Yuuri (or Conrad for that matter) would wish it, it was not good for Yuuri to be shadowed all the time. Yuuri had to have room to grow, to become his own person, a strong individual and a strong King. Thus no matter how much he wanted otherwise, Conrad was forced to take a step back, and watch over his charge from a distance rather than by his side. Not too far a distance, however, and Conrad was glad of that. Had Yuuri ordered him away from the Kingdom, Conrad would have willingly obeyed despite the pain it would have cost him. Pain, too, was a cost of living, and a cost of becoming close to someone.

And so the seasons go by, and a young King grows more and more into the role he was born for. And always - sometimes playing baseball, sometimes accompanying His Majesty on another dangerous trip with his sword drawn protectively, sometimes patiently giving horse riding lessons, sometimes simply observing as Yuuri fills out the endless pieces of paper that Gunter brings to him - Conrad watches over him. This is his life, given to Yuuri. And with every smile, Yuuri gives it right back threefold.


End file.
